Doctors, Nutritionists and Scientists...

On PCRM's Ad Campaign That Uses
Child Actors Claiming They Have Colon Cancer to
Frighten Consumers

"It's outrageous. The video is
exploiting children in the worst possible way.
It's appalling to see a child used to advance a
political agenda. There is no established
relationship between the normal consumption of
processed foods and the risk of colon
cancer."-Dr.
Ronald E. Kleinman, Unit Chief, Pediatric
Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Massachusetts
General Hospital

"The thing I hate about this ad is that
it really scares the heck out of people and
scares the heck out of parents. Neither of the
children in this ad do in fact have colon
cancer and parents need to know that if their
child eats an occasional hot dog, it's not
going to give them colon cancer. It's never
been proven."-Dr. David Hnida, Medical Editor,
CBS Denver

"The science behind the calls to
eliminate processed meats from schools is far
from conclusive."-United States School Nutrition
Association

On the World Cancer Research Fund
Report's Conclusions and
Recommendations

"Part of the problem here is
that you're only looking at five studies.
There's a 2,300 page review on a CD-Rom that
accompanies the WCRF report. Ninety
percent of the studies are not included in the
meta analysis to determine that processed meat
is harmful. There's a problem when you're
dumping nine out of ten studies."-David Klurfeld, Ph.D, national
program leader in human nutrition at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research
Service

"The substantial review of the
evidence in the WCRF report demonstrates that
there is no discernible association between
many forms of cancer and specific dietary
practices. There are still some very
interesting hypotheses to pursue, such as the
value of an approach on the basis of the food
patterns rather than individual foods and
nutrients, but the cupboard is remarkably
bare... In view of the fragile grounds on which
the conclusions of WCRF report on diet and
cancer are based on, the information to the
media should have been more cautious."-P. Boyle et al. of the
International Agency for Research on Cancer,
Annals of Oncology (v. 19, Oct
2008)

On the Meat and Cancer
Hypothesis

"The risk we get from things
like lack of physical activity, excess body
weight, lack of adequate vegetables and fruits,
these are much more important to work
on..."-Karen Collins, nutrition adviser
with the American Institute for Cancer
ResearchAssociated Press, August 26,
2008

"I've been working on the safety
of processed meats for over 35 years and I
would confidently say that I would urge anyone
if they do enjoy the meats, they should not
worry about consuming them."-James Coughlin, Ph.D. at the
International Association for Food Protection
annual conference, August 6, 2008

"For me, the take home message
related to meat and cancer is you can still
enjoy essentially any type of meat in moderate
amounts and not worry at all about a
theoretical risk of cancer."-David Klurfeld, Ph.D, national
program leader in human nutrition at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research
Service

On The Misuse of Epidemiological
Studies to Establish Cause and
Effect

"Epidemiology is particularly
prone to the generation of false-positive
results... It further exacerbates the problem
in the search for and reporting of weak
associations."-Journal of the National Cancer
Institute 2008

"...epidemiological studies
cannot confirm any association between the
presence of nitrites (or nitrates) in food and
the formation of NOCs and the causation of
human cancer. In fact, studies that suggest a
link between nitrites in food and cancer have
largely been disputed due to these studies'
inability to exclude confounding factors, such
as recall bias."-The American Medical
Association's literature
review of the research into nitrites
and cancer

"...journals today are full of
studies suggesting that a little risk is not
nothing at all. The findings are often touted
in press releases by the journals that publish
them or by the researchers' institutions, and
newspapers and media often report the claims
uncritically. And so the anxiety pendulum
swings at an ever more dizzying rate."-Science, New Series, Vol. 269,
No. 5221. (July 14, 1995)

"With epidemiology stretched to
its limits or beyond, studies will inevitably
generate false positive and false negative
results 'with disturbing frequency'."-Dimitrios Trichopoulos, head of
the epidemiology department at the Harvard
School of Public Health. Science, New Series,
Vol. 269, No. 5221. (July 14, 1995)

"However cautiously the
investigator may report his conclusions and
stress the need for further evaluation, much of
the press will pay little heed to such
cautions... By the time the information reaches
the public mind, via print or screen, the
tentative suggestion is likely to be
interpreted as fact."-Brian MacMahon, professor
emeritus of epidemiology at Harvard. April 1994
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
editorial

On Sodium Nitrite
Safety

"The idea it's [sodium nitrite]
bad for you has not played out."-Dr. Mark Gladwin, whose
groundbreaking research at the National
Institutes of Health National Heart, Lung and
Blood Institute has identified nitrite's value
as a medical treatment for a variety of
conditions from heart attack injury to sickle
cell anemia. USA Today, Sept. 5,
2005

"The public perception is that
nitrite and nitrate are carcinogens but they
are not. Many studies implicating nitrite and
nitrate in cancer are based on very weak
epidemiological data. If nitrite and nitrate
were harmful to us, then we would not be
advised to eat green leafy vegetables or
swallow our own saliva, which is enriched in
nitrate and nitrite. Our research is showing
that nitrite actually has many health
benefits."-Dr. Nathan Bryan, University of
Texas Houston Institute of Molecular
Medicine

"Nitrite has been suspected to
be a carcinogen for several decades, but
numerous epidemiologic studies have failed to
support consistently a link between nitrate or
nitrite and cancer. Recent chronic feeding
studies in two rodent species failed to link
nitrite, even at extremely high oral dose
levels, to cancer. Recent suspicions that
nitrite might be a developmental toxicant were
also found to lack foundation. Since 93
percent of ingested nitrite comes from
normal metabolic sources, if nitrite caused
cancers or was a reproductive toxicant, it
would imply that humans have a major design
flaw."-Dr. Douglas
Archer, former Assistant U.S. Surgeon General
and Professor and Past Chair of the University
of Florida's Food Science and Human Nutrition
Department. Journal of Food Protection, Vol.
65, No. 5, 2002

What kids are saying

"If some people don't like hot dogs,
that doesn't mean they (schools) should give
them up for everybody."-Lauren Rummel, an 8-year-old at
Taylor Mill Elementary in Covington,
KY

Added her friend, Gwyneth Pracht: "It
would be pretty bad, because they taste so
good."

The materials contained in this Web Site are
not intended as safety advice to any party but
as guidelines. the contents displayed and
linked to in no way represent advice by the
American Meat Institute. Please consult the
safe handling directions and labeling on meat
and poultry products for assurances. For more
information, please contact FSIS for details.